1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge for containing expendable material adapted to image recording, and for being set in an image recorder device, such as a printer, telefacsimile machine, duplicator or the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge for detecting improper cartridge and inhibiting a user of the same.
The improper cartridge is defined as the cartridge not suitable for the image recorder device. Examples of the improper cartridge are one in which expendable material is used up, one loaded again with the expendable material, the cartridge being disassembled, the cartridge different from a genuine type, and the like. If reloading of the expendable material is reloaded for a plurality of times, the cartridge becomes the improper cartridge when the number of times of reloading the cartridge with the expendable material comes up to an upper limit. There are plural examples of the expendable material different between kinds of the image recorder device with which the cartridge is loaded. If the cartridge is for use with an electrophotographic type of the printer, then the expendable material is toner. If in an ink jet printer, the expendable material is ink. If in a thermal printer, the expendable material is ink ribbon.
2. Description Related to the Prior Art In
an electrophotographic type of the printer, a laser scanning optical system is incorporated, and used with a toner cartridge loaded with toner as developing medium. In the toner cartridge, a predetermined amount of the toner is accommodated. The toner cartridge is set in the printer in an exchangeable manner. The use of the toner cartridge makes it unnecessary to use a supply bottle for supplying a toner chamber of the printer with the toner. It follows that a user""s hands or clothes are free from being contaminated with the toner. Also, operation of supply of the toner is very simple because of a renewal of the toner cartridge.
As an extensive form of the toner cartridge, a process cartridge is also known, and has a structure with a photoreceptor drum, a charger roller, a developer roller, a cleaning structure and the like. The process cartridge is loaded with toner at an amount determined in consideration of a lifetime of the photoreceptor drum and the other elements, which can be renewed at the same time as the renewal of the toner. This is advantageous in simplicity in maintaining operation. The process cartridge makes it unnecessary for a user to have a contract with a dealer or agent for periodical maintenance. So the process cartridge is widely used with the printer of a personal type.
In both of the toner cartridge and process cartridge, an indicator is caused to indicate shortage of toner when a remaining amount of the toner decreases to an amount insufficient for printing, which is disclosed in the prior art portion of JP-A 07-028320. Then the toner cartridge or process cartridge is replaced with a new cartridge. The state of the shortage is detected by measuring a remaining toner amount in a remaining toner measurer. The remaining toner measurer has a structure including a light source and a photo sensor both disposed in a cartridge chamber for setting of the cartridge. Two lateral walls of the cartridge are provided with respectively transparent windows, through which light from the light source becomes incident upon the photo sensor. When the remaining toner amount of the toner is still much, light from the light source is blocked by the toner, to decrease an output of the photo sensor. When the remaining toner amount of the toner decreases, the output of the photo sensor increases. Accordingly, it is judged that shortage of the toner occurs when the output of the photo sensor comes up to a predetermined lower limit.
A printer manufacturer supplies plural types of genuine cartridges for respectively types of printers. The cartridge from the printer manufacturer is handled by a dealer before being sold to a user. A used cartridge without toner is returned to the dealer and then withdrawn by the printer manufacturer. To recycle the cartridge, the printer manufacturer disassembles the cartridge, inspects various parts, and reuses normal parts among them. Plastic parts from the cartridge are melted and pelletized, and recycled as material to be molded again. The recycle of the cartridge is advantageous in reducing a cost of the cartridge.
It is likely that a part of numerous used cartridges are sent to a reloading agent. The reloading agent receives a user""s request, disassembles the cartridge and reloads it with toner to meet the user""s request. Furthermore, some reloading agent buys numerous used cartridges, reloads them with the toner and sells the regenerated cartridges at a considerably lower cost than that of the genuinely shipped cartridges being unused.
In the genuine cartridge, toner of the genuine type is contained and has appropriate characteristics. The toner of the genuine type has a composition determined in consideration of processing characteristics of the printer, including a characteristic of a photoreceptor drum, a charging voltage, a cleaning characteristic and a fixing characteristic. The toner used by the reloading agent, however, has a composition different from that of the genuine type, and is likely to lower printing quality. Also, the toner is likely to stick to a fixer roller to damage the fixer roller.
The unauthorized loading of toner causes a drop in the image quality or a breakage of the printer. However, users are likely to suppose that a problem occurs in the printer to lower the image quality or cause a breakage without awareness of the problem of the toner. Thus, reputation to the quality of the printer is lost seriously no matter how high the reputation of the printer manufacturer of the printer has been raised. The most critical users may discontinue using or buying all products manufactured by the printer manufacturer.
To maintain ensured reputation of the printer, it is necessary to apply various countermeasures against causes for low quality in the image. Reloading of expendable material such as toner and ink should be prevented. The reuse of the improper cartridge reloaded with the expendable material should be avoided.
To prevent reloading of expendable material, JP-A 07-028320 discloses a use of the process cartridge including a counter and an electromagnetic brake. The counter counts the number of produced prints. The electromagnetic brake blocks rotation of the developer roller. A used amount of the toner is measured indirectly according to the number of prints. When the number of the prints comes up to a reference number, it is estimated that shortage of the toner has occurred. Then the electromagnetic brake is actuated. Rotation of the developer roller is blocked by the electromagnetic brake, to inhibit the use of the process cartridge. Once the toner decreases to at most a predetermined limit, the process cartridge cannot be used irrespective of existence or lack of addition of the toner. As a result, the process cartridge, containing a sufficient amount of the toner but in which the electromagnetic brake operates, is determined as improper, because reloaded with the toner.
However, the technique according to JP-A 07-028320 has a problem. Before the electromagnetic brake operates, a certain amount of toner remains. If the cartridge is loaded with the toner in a manner of partial reloading, the process cartridge becomes reusable in an unexpected manner. Furthermore, there are differences in the number of letters between prints. If the remaining amount of the toner is estimated according to the number of the prints, the result of the estimating the remaining toner amount may be different from an accurate value. Even when there remains a considerable amount of the toner, the electromagnetic brake may operate to inhibit the use of the process cartridge. This results in waste of the resource.
In the known technique for preventing reloading of expendable material, the electromagnetic brake is required in the process cartridge, which must have a complicated and large structure and have a high cost. Furthermore, a reloading agent or other persons can visually understand the state of operating the electromagnetic brake. The reloading agent is ready to eliminate the electromagnetic brake or release the process cartridge from operation of the electromagnetic brake for the purpose of disassembling the process cartridge. Thus, the electromagnetic brake is not sufficiently effective for preventing reloading.
There is a known example of the process cartridge in which cartridge parts, including the photoreceptor drum, charger roller and developer roller, are improved to have a longer lifetime. It is conceivable to recycle the process cartridge by adding toner in a reloading manner. However, there occurs a problem in lowering the image quality with time due to the repeated use of the cartridge parts. This is because the cartridge parts are used for a considerably long time by repeated supply of the toner. There is no consideration for determining the lifetime of the cartridge according to durability of the cartridge parts.
In view of the foregoing problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method, device and system for detecting improper cartridge, of which examples are the cartridge reloaded with expendable material, the cartridge in which the expendable material has been used up, the cartridge being disassembled, the cartridge different from a genuine type, the cartridge of which the number of times of reloading the expendable material has come up to at least a reference number, and the like, for the purpose of preventing the use of the improper cartridge. Another object of the present invention is to provide a cartridge suitable for the method, device and system, and recording medium for storing a program for being run in the method, device and system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge, in which the improper cartridge can be prevented from being used in the image recorder device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge, in which remaining amount of expendable material is measured accurately to use the expendable material fully without waste.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge easily and at a lost cost without complicating a structure of the cartridge.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge, in which an operation inhibited state of the cartridge has a not externally observable appearance, to avoid undoing the operation inhibited state easily.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method, device, system and recording medium for detecting improper cartridge, in which the use of the cartridge at the lapse of its lifetime is avoided by limiting the number of times of reloading the cartridge with expendable material.
In order to achieve the above and other objects and advantages of this invention, a remaining amount of expendable material contained in a cartridge is measured, and compared with the remaining amount of the expendable material measured previously. If there is an increase in the remaining amount of the expendable material, the cartridge is determined as an improper cartridge which has been reloaded with the expendable material. Upon determination of the improper cartridge, an alarm indicator, such as a lamp, buzzer, display panel or the like, is driven. Image recording in an image recorder is inhibited with the improper cartridge. The remaining amount of the expendable material measured previously is written to a cartridge memory or a printer memory. In the case of the printer memory, the remaining amount of the expendable material is stored with discernment information for discernment of the cartridge, such as a cartridge ID.
According to a preferred embodiment, shortness information representing shortage of the shortness information is assigned to the cartridge when shortage occurs in the expendable material in the cartridge. According to existence or lack of the shortness information, it is checked whether the cartridge is the improper cartridge or not. The shortness information is written to the cartridge memory, or to the printer memory with the cartridge ID.
According to another preferred embodiment, a characteristic of the expendable material contained in the cartridge is measured. If the characteristic is not within a reference range, the cartridge is determined as the improper cartridge reloaded with the expendable material.
According to another preferred embodiment, a recording time number of times of reloading the cartridge with the expendable material is counted or estimated. If the recording time number has come up to a reference number, then the cartridge is determined as the improper cartridge. When a reloading detector generates an output signal, the recording time number is stepped incrementally by one (1). The recording time number of the expendable material is written to the cartridge memory, or to the printer memory with the cartridge ID.
According to a further preferred embodiment, the cartridge is determined as the improper cartridge if the expendable material in the cartridge decreases to at most a reference amount. Upon determining of the impropriety, the cartridge is inhibited from operating. If the cartridge is disassembled to reload the cartridge with the expendable material, the cartridge is determined as the improper cartridge, and inhibited from operating. Furthermore, disassembly information is assigned to the cartridge if the cartridge is disassembled. When the disassembly information exists, an alarm signal is generated. Image recording is inhibited.
The cartridge includes the cartridge memory for storing information representing impropriety of the improper cartridge, for example the remaining amount of the expendable material, the shortness information, the characteristic, the recording time number, the disassembly information or the cartridge discernment information. Also, a recording medium according to the invention stores a program for determining the improper cartridge and a program for disabling the improper cartridge from operating. Those programs are installed in a printer.
By the construction of the present invention, the improper cartridge can be discerned as reloaded with the expendable material, because an increase in the expendable material is checked. Also, the remaining amount of the expendable material can be monitored because measured precisely. The use of the improper cartridge can be prevented reliably and easily, because of indication of alarm information or inhibiting image recording. There is no change in the appearance of the cartridge even upon occurrence of the improper state. There is no erroneous repair like a case of an electromagnetic brake.
In the present embodiment, existence or lack of the shortness information makes it possible to check the improper cartridge reliably, because the shortness information is assigned to the cartridge short of the expendable material. Also, the improper cartridge can checked easily and reliably, because the characteristic of the expendable material is measured to recognize reloading of the expendable material. Furthermore, the use of the improper cartridge can be inhibited, because disassembly of the cartridge is detected to disable the cartridge from operating according to a signal from the reloading detector.